Holly K. Andersen

My husband, Dean and I at our wedding dinner

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My grandmother quilted and made several beautiful quilts. She and my mother both taught me to sew, but we never made it to the quilt stage. While serving in the U.S. Navy, I was stationed in San Angelo, Texas for training. Next to my mother and grandmothers, I met the most wonderful woman there. Monreen Weaver owned the Angelo Quilt Shop. Monreen and Reba, her employee, taught me how to quilt. They taught me fusible appliqué, patchwork and asked what else I wanted to learn before I transferred. I hand quilted the quilts I made until being stationed in Bremerton, Wa. Once in Bremerton I met another wonderful woman, Nancy at Pacific Fabrics and she would take my quilts to California to be quilted. I was amazed at the designs this woman would do and the cost was nominal, plus it saved me a lot of time. After meeting my future husband he encouraged me to look into quilt machines. I originally had a Viking machine on an Inspira frame, but I wanted more. More throat space, more control, a computerized option. I researched the Gammill and Statler machines, but couldn’t justify the expense. I purchased my HQ Sixteen used from a local sewing store. After a few stuttering stops from getting a used machine from someone who didn’t understand the machine and couldn’t service it, I met Jackie from Kingston Quilt Shop. She is a wonder with Handi Quilter and quickly got me on track, fixing my machine with the help of HQ tech services over the phone. I now have the HQ Pro-Stitcher and am living the dream. I have attended all 3 of the education courses and would recommend them to everyone. As far as I know Handi Quilter is the only brand that offers training, and what a wonderful opportunity that was. How wonderful it is to be able to see my quilts from start to finish and am only hampered by my imagination.